


Ruby and Gold

by aces_low



Series: The Ruby Ox and the Golden Boy [1]
Category: Real Person Fiction, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Blood and Violence, Broken Bones, Content warning for my disgusting habit of writing fade to black on sex and action scenes, Crime Boss Xiao Zhan/Trophy Husband Wang Yibo, Dismemberment, Drug Dealing, Excessive Use of Terms of Endearments, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Knives, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Murder, Murder Husbands, Non-Explicit Sex, Organized Crime, Power Imbalance, Stabbing, Torture, Unromantic Marriage Proposals, Vomiting, and then letting conversations go on for ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:20:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28583394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aces_low/pseuds/aces_low
Summary: There are certain things everyone in this business knows:Sex sells better than gambling, if you’re willing to take on the added risk.Anyone can be bought.Especially the police.And nobody touches Wang Yibo.
Relationships: Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean
Series: The Ruby Ox and the Golden Boy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118360
Comments: 132
Kudos: 506





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not meant to be representative of either Xiao Zhan or Wang Yibo or any other recognizable name in this story.
> 
> Please heed the tags! 
> 
> Not beta read, all mistakes are currently eating away at me as you read this.

Gao Quisheng is giving the new recruits a lesson on what to look for on a counterfeit bill when the door of the warehouse slams open. 

The way the shouts echo off the walls, it sounds as though twenty men have rushed through the door, instead of seven. The seventh person isn’t creating any of the noise, though is unquestionably the cause of it, as they are being carried through the door. The cloth bag over their head obscures their face, but by the way they hang limp in the men’s hold, it’s clear they’ve been knocked out.

Quisheng waves the recruits back before rushing over to the commotion.

“What is this?” he demands, approaching Xu Sujinshu, who is currently directing others to grab a chair and some rope.

Xu Sujinshu turns his excited grin toward Quisheng and says, “you ready to finally reach the top?”

Quisheng frowns and walks over to where the person is being tied up and tears the bag off their head. As soon as he sees who it is he whips around and grabs Sujinshu, pulling him in by the collar.

“What the _fuck_ were you thinking?!”

Sujinshu raises his arms up. “B-bosses orders!”

“What did you say?”

“This one came straight from Zhao Huyang, I swear.”

Quisheng tightens his hold for just a moment before letting go, pushing Sujinshu back to make him stumble.

He growls, glaring at all the men who were involved in this operation, before he stalks off to the other end of the warehouse.

“What’s going on?” Huang Zhunan, one of the new recruits, asks, following close behind him.

“We’re about to be in for a bloodbath,” Quisheng explains through gritted teeth.

Zhunan looks back at the unconscious man. “Who is he?”

Quisheng unlocks their weapons cabinet and begins pulling out every gun inside. They’ll need more, will need to get to the ones in the back as well, though he doesn’t know how much time they have, he has to assume not long.

“You’ve heard of Nui Hóngbǎoshí, Xiao Zhan.”

It’s not a question, everyone in their corner of the underworld has heard of Xiao Zhan. He and his organization are bigger than any other in the area, definitely bigger than the operation they have here.

“Of course,” Zhunan responds slowly, Quisheng had been the one to teach him all about Xiao Zhan, afterall.

“What are his weaknesses?” Quisheng asks, as he loads ammunition into the firearms.

Zhunan squints, “none, that’s how he-”

“Everyone has weaknesses,” Quisheng snaps, he spares just a moment to send Zhunan a hard look before getting back to work.

“H-he...his,” Zhunan’s eyes dart back and forth, clearly trying to find the memory of what he’d been taught, before a light in his eyes suddenly catches. “That’s Wang Yibo?”

Quisheng doesn’t give the rhetorical question an unneeded response. 

“But I thought...I thought you said that touching Wang Yibo was as good as committing suicide.”

Quisheng huffs.

There are certain things everyone in this business knows:

Sex sells better than gambling, if you’re willing to take on the added risk.

Anyone can be bought.

Especially the police.

And nobody touches Wang Yibo.

Quisheng has only seen Wang Yibo in person twice before today. Conscious, he truly is a sight to behold, taking the status of trophy husband to the top boss of the underworld as though he was born for that position in life. Maybe he had been.

  


The first time he became aware of Wang Yibo was during their first, big job, where they’d teamed up, or more accurately, acted as supporting players for Xiao Zhan and his crew for a giant arms deal that had come through the city. It had been a big step through the door for Huyang’s group, and Huyang wanted to capitalize on the opportunity. 

Happily taking on the smaller payout, their real objective had been to observe Xiao Zhan and his crew for instability in their ranks. Halfway through the trade, their biggest weakness presented itself.

The atmosphere had been tense, as most situations where an exorbitant amount of guns and money present usually are. No one made too much or too little eye contact as the packages moved between hands. Xiao Zhan himself was there, standing off to the side, a black mask covered his nose and mouth and a black hat obscured most of his eyes. Wearing nondescript, black clothes, arms crossed, as though he was just taking in a football match, he might have been overlooked if not for the imposing figure he made. Taller than most in the room, and even half-obscured, his eyes pierced through anyone they glanced over.

Quisheng stood closest to him, watching for any signs of faltering resolve, any tick of unease, but saw none. That is, until the backdoor of the car Xiao Zhan had arrived in opened.

The entire room looked up in alarm, most reaching for their guns as a figure stepped out.

The young man was striking, and completely out of place, looking like he had stepped off a runway and somehow found himself in the warehouse by accident. His hair was dyed blue and styled to look mildly tousled, he had an earring dangling low on one side clinking together when he moved his head, and Quisheng didn’t know much about makeup, but the shade of pink on his lips couldn’t possibly be natural.

His clothes were anything but nondescript, his jacket was covered in jewels or mirrors - Quisheng wouldn’t be surprised if they were actually diamonds - whatever they were, they reflected the hazy light of the warehouse, making him appear to be shimmering.

No one moved in the few seconds it took for the young man to let his aloof gaze pass over them before his eyes landed on Xiao Zhan. With that, he slammed the car door closed and made his way over, ignoring everyone else he passed.

“ _Lao ɡōnɡ,_ ” the young man said when he was just a few steps away. “I-”

Xiao Zhan took a step toward him, reaching out, he quickly caught him by the waist, and turned his back toward the room, obscuring the younger man’s view from what was happening behind him.

“I told you to stay in the car,” Xiao Zhan said, the first words Quisheng remembers hearing the man say all night.

The younger man lifted his chin to look over Xiao Zhan’s shoulder as he asked, “what are you doing?”

Xiao Zhan grabbed the other’s chin, directing his eyes away from the rest of the room. The move was harsh, but Quisheng, from where he stood, could see him loosen his hold almost immediately, his fingers stroking the cheeks beneath them instead of squeezing them.

“I told you to stay in the car,” he repeated.

His young husband immediately forgot about the rest of the room as he pouted up at Xiao Zhan.

“I’m bored, when are you gonna be done? You said you’d take me out tonight.”

“I know, _xīngān_ , but it’s going to be a while longer. We can go out tomorrow,” Xiao Zhan said in a low enough voice that only his husband, a few of his men, and Quisheng could hear.

The husband’s pout only grew bigger, but before he could complain, Xiao Zhan ran a hand through his hair and said, “we can get you that necklace you’ve been wanting and you can wear it when we go, how about that?”

That immediately turned the pout into a smile as the young man said, “ok.”

“Ok, now go back to the car.”

“Can’t I stay with you?” the husband asked, widening his eyes in a way Quisheng assumed assisted him in getting his way often.

“No.”

“But-”

“No,” Xiao Zhan repeated, tone sharper than before.

The younger man huffed and began to walk back to the car but Xiao Zhan grabbed his arm, tugging him back in.

“Give me a kiss,” he said, pulling down his mask.

Still pouting, the husband obeyed, lifting up on his toes to press their lips together. By the time he moved away, his pout had shifted to a soft smile.

“Go,” Xiao Zhan said, then directed him away with a less than gentle pat on his ass.

The husband didn’t react to that in any way, other than his smile possibly growing wider as he made his way back to the car. With one last disinterested look around the room, the man slipped back into the backseat.

Xiao Zhan nodded his head to one of his men, who followed close behind, getting into the driver’s seat of the car, probably to distract the husband from what was happening just outside of it. Once he seemed sure that they wouldn’t be interrupted again, Xiao Zhan turned back to the rest of the room and waved a hand, signaling everyone to get back to work.

With only a slight pause, everyone remembered what it was they were doing, and Xiao Zhan went back to studying the proceedings with a laser sharp focus. 

  


Quisheng wondered if it could really be that easy, if he’d really just been handed the top boss’s _"xīngān"_.

  


After that, Quishing learned everything he could about the person Xiao Zhan referred to as his most precious, Wang Yibo. Not that there had been much else to uncover. At the time, a year ago now, Wang Yibo had been 24. He’d been married to Xiao Zhan for over three years, and that was about all the information that could be agreed upon among those who were willing to talk about him.

Nobody knew where the man had come from. 

Conjecture has created plenty of theories, each more ridiculous than the last. But there are three that usually get tossed around. 

Early on, people used to say that Wang Yibo had been an escort or dancer, before Xiao Zhan decided he didn’t want to share him with other johns or patrons of whatever nightclub he worked for. Some believe that he’s the son of an influential business man, and had been promised to Xiao Zhan by his father when he came of age as part of a trade deal between him and the crime boss. And then there’s the one most people believe, that he’d been a model who’d caught the eye of Xiao Zhan and had been convinced to leave his small career to act as a beautiful accessory to a crime boss instead. A crime boss who is equally as handsome and clearly makes sure his husband wants for nothing.

The one thing Quisheng learned, time and time again, no matter who he spoke to and how much they were or weren’t willing to say, was that Wang Yibo was untouchable, in every sense of the word. Wang Yibo was not some social, overeager spouse, trying to meet all his husband’s “business partners”, he appeared to be uninterested in everything and anyone else around him other than his husband. 

It was when someone forgot that Wang Yibo was also physically untouchable, that they, and anyone vaguely aware of them, were reminded, in ways that made sure they’d never forget. 

The ones who lived to pass on the message never got out unscathed.

With broken bones, bullet holes, and burns - either from fire or acid - Xiao Zhan made it clear, anyone foolish enough to touch his husband would pay a severe price.

There didn’t seem to be any kind of discretion in punishment based on the type of touching being done either. Whether someone attempted to hurt him, in order to hurt Xiao Zhan, or they were guided by more salacious reasons, they all ended up the same way. 

Wang Yibo may be Xiao Zhan’s biggest vulnerability, but the amount of strength the crime boss has proven he’s had, just as a reaction to protecting his husband, has made it clear that Xiao Zhan is not to be trifled with, and using Wang Yibo to try to bring him down is not as easy as it may appear at first glance. 

Quisheng doesn’t know what Wang Yibo knows of his husband’s true business, it’s clear he doesn’t actually know the truth, as Xiao Zhan has also sent plenty of messages to those who have tried to open the young man’s eyes to his husband’s true character. He may think Xiao Zhan is just a rich and powerful businessman with more enemies than any businessman who followed the law ever could. Or it may not matter one way or another to Wang Yibo, who may just be content to be beautiful, have a beautiful husband, and be kept in beautiful clothing and beautiful accommodations wherever he goes, the rest may be of no interest to the young man. 

No matter what Wang Yibo’s understanding of the situation is now, Quisheng’s boss has decided to take on the ultimate risk in hopes of toppling the current keeper of the underworld’s throne. He can’t say he’s as optimistic as the others seem to be, he’s seen the results of those who have tried this before.

But Quisheng had taken an oath. All he can do now is go down fighting.

He hands Zhunan the keys to the other, bigger cabinet of guns stored away elsewhere.

“When you’re done loading the rest of these, start with the ones in the back,” he tells him.

Zhunan nods just as Zhao Huyang strolls in. 

Without a backward glance, Quisheng all but runs over to greet his boss. Hoping that there is a real plan here, hoping that he can be made to understand why this is happening.

“Zhao zong,” Quisheng starts as soon as he’s close enough. “This is-”

“Wang Yibo,” Huyang interrupts, taking the aforementioned man’s chin in his hand and raising it up. “Hello again, handsome boy.”

Quisheng hadn’t realized Wang Yibo had already woken up, with the way he’s listing to the side of his chair. One of his eyes is swollen shut and if Quisheng had to guess, the only thing keeping him from falling to the floor are the restraints holding him in.

Despite all that, Wang Yibo doesn’t whimper or cry out, he doesn’t cower at Zhao Huyang’s touch. Quisheng expects tears from the young man, expects him to question why this is happening, to ask where his husband is. He doesn’t react at all in the way Quisheng would have assumed the naive, spoiled boy from his memory would to his current predicament. 

Instead, Wang Yibo looks up with something like a grin, slanted and bloodied though it is, and says, “you’re in so much trouble, Zhào xiānshēng.”

\---------

Yixing keeps one eye on Ayanga as he gives his briefing, and the other on Xiao Zhan, who has taken to pacing back and forth behind his chair. It’s the only indication of stress he’s giving off. In any other situation, someone might think he’s just deep in thought. Still, Yixing catches more than one person’s eyes traveling to their boss’s movements before zipping right back to Ayanga.

“I want a location within the hour,” Ayanga announces as his dismissal. 

Everyone is up and out of the room within a handful of seconds, off to find the missing member of their team. Ayanga’s gaze turns meaningfully toward Xiao Zhan for just a moment before meeting Yixing’s eyes, Yixing gives him a small nod, and with that, it’s only him and Xiao Zhan left.

“They’ve been a thorn in your side for months,” Yixing reminds him.

Lele had, thankfully, woken up in the hospital not long after arriving, and had been able to inform them of the group that had blindsided them and taken Yibo.

Xiao Zhan glares at Yixing for a moment before he finally sinks down into his chair, resting his forehead on his hands.

His voice is muffled, but Yixing can still hear him say, “he’s probably so mad right now.”

Yixing grins. “He’s been wanting to take them down for a while.”

Looking back up at him, Xiao Zhan grimaces. “Well, at least now he has a reason, and won’t have me to hold him back. We’re gonna have to do some damage control after this.”

That makes Yixing drop his grin and nod. 

“I’ll have Na Ying get to work,” he promises.

With that, Yixing nods and makes his way to the door. Before he can leave though, Xiao Zhan speaks up again.

“How much trouble do you think I’ll be in when we get him back?”

Yixing scoffs. “You know he can never stay mad at you.”

\---------------


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Specific content warnings for this chapter listed in the end notes

People are always surprised when they learn Xiao Zhan’s age. Surely, someone with as much esteem and power as him should be older. They wonder how he managed to bring his organization to the top by the age of 27 and keep his title for over four years now.

Xiao Zhan credits three things to his success. 

First, is his team. Loyal, smart, and effective at whatever job he throws at them. He’d be nowhere without them, and he makes sure to never forget that, to never forget that he didn’t get where he is alone.

Second, his business savvy. Xiao Zhan knows all about the importance of diversifying, and his organization has their fingers in almost every type of dealing the underworld can offer. It keeps them busy, rich and, most importantly, it keeps them indispensable. Nothing happens in the area that Xiao Zhan doesn’t have at least some input in, and that means, if someone wants to move a product anywhere in his control, deferment starts and ends with Xiao Zhan.

Third, and probably most important, is his temperament. He tends to come off as amiable and charming, some have even said friendly, despite him having made no attempts at acting that way. It means, when he’s angry, even if it’s been brimming under the surface to him, for others, it appears like a viper’s strike, unexpected and devastating. And as pleasant as he may seem, his temper is a perfect counterbalance. When pushed to it, Xiao Zhan can be, and has been, a very dangerous man.

The men who have tried to hurt him, to double-cross him, and the countless others who have tried and failed to bring Xiao Zhan down had learned that fact the hard way. As had the rest of the community, who’d seen the levels Xiao Zhan could go to when pushed to it. It meant that no group would be stupid enough to cross him by hurting one of his own. 

It means that Zhao Huyang taking Yibo is a message, and that message is he wants a war. 

Xiao Zhan might laugh at the audacity if he wasn’t so furious at it. 

He can only hope that Yibo will leave a few of them alive so that he can kill them himself. 

\--------------

Before he’d been the top boss, before people called him Niú Hóngbǎoshí, before he’d been one of the more powerful men in China, Xiao Zhan had simply been a boss, one of many, trying to make a name for himself as he led his slowly growing gang further and further into the dark underbelly of China’s criminal world.

At 25, he was perfectly content with the small piece of the drug trade that he and his guys had control over, and was happy with the rate that they were expanding. Though, expansion meant that he no longer knew every person that was technically working in their operation anymore. 

Farming out the lower level street work to people who knew the area and were just happy to make a few extra bucks for selling made more sense than keeping it within the organization, where everyone had more important things to focus on than making sure some young professional got their regular, Thursday fix.

A sound business strategy at the time, but more importantly, it’s how he’d met Yibo.

  


It wasn’t often that Xiao Zhan made his way down to the garages he owned that doubled as drop spots, but that day he and Yin Zheng had gotten their wires crossed on a shipment order and Xiao Zhan had figured it’d be easier to just sort it out in person. 

Only, as soon as he’d stepped inside the garage, he’d nearly face-planted. As a body, flying off a skateboard, crashed straight into him. Only through the power of Luo Shuǐxi’s quick reflexes was he kept upright.

“Oh shit, sorry,” the flying body in question exclaimed. 

Xiao Zhan only had a moment to see wide, brown eyes, and a tiny, messy ponytail, before the guy, who had been reaching out for him, was being yanked backward by Yin Zheng.

“Sit there and stay out of the way,” Yin Zheng muttered to the kid, directing him to sit down on one of the chairs at his desk.

“I said sorry,” the kid muttered, a small pout on his lips showing as he turned in his newly acquired seat to eye Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan, for his part, decided to laugh off the commotion, knowing everyone was worried about how he’d react to what had clearly been an accident.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he assured the group of anxious looking men scattered around the garage. “No harm done.”

There was almost a collective sigh across the space, that was quickly swallowed back up in the next moment when the kid asked, “who are you?” 

Xiao Zhan could feel the room around him tense, but he decided to indulge the punk for a minute.

He walked over to the desk the guy was sitting at and picked up one of the small bags sitting on top.

“I assume you’re selling these?” he asked, holding the baggy in front of the kid’s face.

The kid scowled, which was answer enough for him.

Tossing the bag back onto the desk he leaned against the edge, folding his arms as he leveled the kid with his fakest grin.

“The drugs in those bags are mine, so, who I am, is your boss.”

Instead of widening eyes or audible swallows, the kid just let his gaze wander up and down Xiao Zhan’s body for a moment before a small grin took over his face. Xiao Zhan was pretty sure he should have been angry about the blatant once over he’d just been given, strangely, the only thing he’d felt was amusement.

“And what,” the kid finally spoke, leaning forward in his chair, his eyes going wide and searching in a way that twisted something in Xiao Zhan’s gut. “Is my boss’s name?”

He shook himself away from that giant puppy dog stare enough to wave Luo Shuǐxi away, who looked like he was one second from grabbing this kid and beating his pretty face to ugly.

“I don’t know your name,” Xiao Zhan pointed out.

The kid shook his head, brushing the bangs out of his eyes and setting an imperious line with his chin.

“I asked first.”

Xiao Zhan wasn’t sure if he wanted to backhand the kid or grab him by his pointed chin and hold him there and...he didn’t really want to finish the thought, especially with so many others around.

Instead of doing either of those things, he simply offered, “Xiao Zhan.”

“Wang Yibo,” was the swift counter.

“Wang Yibo,” Xiao Zhan repeated with a nod, he didn’t expect to forget that name for a long time. “What exactly do you do here?”

“I fix up bikes,” Yibo told him, before a smirk spread across his face. “And sell all your drugs, of course.”

That made Xiao Zhan raise an eyebrow. “All of them?”

Yibo just shrugged, the smirk still present.

Xiao Zhan looked up to Yin Zheng for confirmation.

Yin Zheng shrugged as well. “He definitely turns the most profit.”

Before Xiao Zhan could respond there was a snort, followed by Luo Shuǐxi saying, “I imagine it’s not just the drugs they’re paying for.”

Faster than he’d flown off his skateboard, Yibo was out of his chair facing Luo Shuǐxi.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Yibo shouted, sounding fully aware of what he’d been implying.

“We don’t run a prostitution ring here, princess, especially not with minors,” Luo Shuǐxi sneered. 

Xiao Zhan grabbed Yibo’s arm before he could take a step and get the gun on Luo Shuǐxi’s hip pressed to his forehead.

Yibo didn’t struggle against his hold, but kept his murderous gaze on Luo Shuǐxi who merely looked pleased at having riled the kid up.

He could tell everyone was waiting on him to do something to once again ease the tension in the room. So, with a squeeze to Yibo’s arm, Xiao Zhan let go and addressed the whole room.

“Alright, how about we end the introductions here and everyone gets to work,” he said, clapping his hands once. 

Most of the men nodded and walked further into the garage, but Yibo stayed where he was, still glaring at Luo Shuǐxi’s smug smile.

“Yibo,” Xiao Zhan snapped.

The harsh tone seemed to snap the kid out of his stare off as he looked back over at Xiao Zhan, his eyes softening slightly.

Xiao Zhan nodded his head toward the bags on the desk. “How about you go turn a profit, huh?”

Yibo looked back and forth between the bags and Xiao Zhan for a moment before he huffed and pulled a backpack up off the ground, quickly shoving the drugs into it. Throwing his bag over his shoulder he spared Xiao Zhan one more look before he walked toward the door, inching around Luo Shuǐxi’s unmoving stance, to grab the offending skateboard from where it had gone off without him earlier.

Once he made it to the door his gaze went past Luo Shuǐxi, straight to Xiao Zhan, looking him right in the eye as he said, “I’m not a minor.”

With that, he pushed the door open and left.

Yin Zheng let out a forced chuckle, and Xiao Zhan looked over to see him scratching the back of his neck.

“He really is a good kid, he sells well, and he’s learning the garage work too,” Yin Zheng said, sinking down into his chair. 

“Has a temper,” Xiao Zhan pointed out, taking the seat Yibo had previously occupied. “And a bit of a mouth on him.”

“Not as much of one as you might think,” Yin Zheng said with a frown. “I’m not really sure what was up with him today.”

Xiao Zhan waved him off, as intrigued as he was by Wang Yibo, he couldn’t let some random punk who sold his drugs for him take up more time than he warranted. 

A few hours later, they’d figured out the problem with the shipping order and Xiao Zhan stepped outside to take a call, though mostly it was to get some air and cool off from the stuffy garage.

He’d just finished the call and was taking one last moment to enjoy the fresh, circulating air when a figure came into his periphery, sporting a familiar, messy ponytail.

“Yibo,” he greeted the young man.

Yibo grinned and leaned against Xiao Zhan’s car. “You remembered my name.”

Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes. “It’s been three hours, Yibo, not a lot of time to forget you.”

“Yeah, it’ll definitely take a lot longer to forget me,” Yibo said, taking a step toward him.

“You weren’t gone long,” Xiao Zhan said, changing the direction Yibo clearly wanted to take the conversation. “You sold out already?”

Yibo shrugged. “All my regulars were buying today.”

Xiao Zhan thinks back to the number of bags he’d seen Yibo take with him and he offered him an impressed nod.

Apparently, that was enough to draw a sly grin out of him, as Yibo took another step closer. 

“Guess that means we’re both done with work early, maybe we could-”

“How old are you, Yibo?”

Yibo barely reacted to the interruption, and instead looked away as he said, “25.”

Xiao Zhan snorted. “Try again, kid.”

That caused Yibo to scowl, and toss his bangs back out of his face.

“I’m 19,” he answered, quieter this time.

Xiao Zhan looked him over, causing Yibo to roll his eyes. 

“You can ask Zheng-ge if you think I’m lying.”

“I believe you,” Xiao Zhan acquiesced.

Yibo’s grin came back in full force, as he took one final step forward, reaching out to tug on Xiao Zhan’s sleeve. Xiao Zhan couldn’t remember the last time someone deliberately touched him without his permission.

“So-”

Xiao Zhan didn’t let Yibo get further than that before he took hold of the hand against his arm, crushing the fingers in his grasp and yanked forward until Yibo was stumbling into him, his free hand braced on Xiao Zhan’s chest. For the first time, Yibo showed some level of trepidation, and Xiao Zhan smirked as he looked down into those wide-eyes.

“No,” he answered the unasked question.

Yibo’s nervous stare morphed into an exaggerated pout and it took most of Xiao Zhan’s self-control to not roll his eyes.

“I think you’ll like me,” Yibo said, looking up beneath his eyelashes.

At that, Xiao Zhan had reached the end of his patience. Releasing the hand in his grip, he replaced it with Yibo’s chin, angling his face up to what Xiao Zhan knew would be an uncomfortable stretch. He forced a smirk as he studied Yibo’s dazed expression, stroking and then squeezing the soft cheeks beneath his fingers.

He leaned down, close enough that he could hear Yibo’s soft intake of breath, and said, “when I’m desperate enough to fuck a nineteen-year-old who sells my drugs, I’ll let you know.”

With that, he released his tight hold on Yibo’s jaw and turned back toward the garage.

He’d only taken a few steps when Yibo spoke up from behind him.

“I’ll see you around, Zhan-ge.”

Before he could turn and tell him off for using that nickname, he could hear the sound of a skateboard on pavement being ridden away.

He huffed, and before he entered the garage, schooled his face out of the grin he could feel trying to fight it’s way across his lips.

Surprisingly, Yibo had been right, they saw each other again only a few weeks later. And then just a week after that, and then less than a month after that. Each time, Yibo was just as shameless in his interest as the last. By the fourth time Yibo just so happened to be in the same place as him, Xiao Zhan ended up pulling him aside to ask if he’d been given Xiao Zhan’s schedule. 

Yibo snorted. “Who do you think would give that information to someone like me?”

“Then how do you keep knowing where I’m going to be?” Xiao Zhan demanded.

“It’s not that hard to figure out. You like to be personally involved whenever there are mix ups or issues, you’ll always come in person to smooth out any problems yourself,” Yibo said with a shrug.

Xiao Zhan shot him a skeptical look and Yibo’s shoulders slumped.

“Would it make you feel better to know that I work way more jobs that you don’t show up on? It’s only because I take any that I think you might be there for that we get to see each other at all,” he revealed, letting those ridiculous eyes of his go round and shiny in a move so intentionally manipulative Xiao Zhan found himself more impressed than annoyed.

Not for the first time since they met, Xiao Zhan felt a slight twist of relief that somehow Yibo started working for his organization. He knew that they hadn’t fully unlocked Yibo’s potential yet, and had a feeling the kid was going to be very beneficial to them someday.

With the assurance that his information wasn’t being leaked, even to other members of the crew, Xiao Zhan nodded and turned to leave, but was stopped when Yibo grabbed him by the elbow.

“You know I carry a gun, right?” Xiao Zhan warned, staring pointedly at the hand on his arm.

Yibo quickly removed his hold, but only smiled wider. “Maybe if _you_ gave me your schedule we could see each other more?”

“And why would I wanna do that?”

“You’re more obvious than you may think, Zhan-ge,” Yibo said. “You like it when I’m here when you show up.”

Xiao Zhan wanted to tell the kid that he was full of shit, but Xiao Zhan knew people saw how Yibo acted around him, and how Xiao Zhan continued to just let him. He knew, on some level, he should be setting Yibo straight, so nobody else got it in their head that they could talk to him the way Yibo did. But he didn’t think anyone had it in them to push that much, and he knew he would be much less amused by anyone else that tried. 

Instead of saying something stupid, like admitting that Yibo wasn’t wrong, Xiao Zhan allowed himself to give Yibo a once over before stepping away, Yibo didn’t try reaching for him again.

As the months went by, Xiao Zhan continued to make a bigger name for himself in the community, and their little slice of the drug trade grew into more, expanding out, taking newer, more dangerous jobs. Making new connections with bigger, more dangerous people.

He still saw Yibo from time to time, and if he went out to certain locations more often than he needed to in order to deal with business in person, nobody said a word about it.

  


It wasn’t just Xiao Zhan who was growing, Yibo slowly started to move up in their company in those following months as well.

Once, when Xiao Zhan was making a trip to the garage to deal with an issue that hadn’t, strictly speaking, needed his physical presence, Yibo greeted him with the good news.

“Zhan-ge!” he’d shouted, when Xiao Zhan walked in, and proceeded to skate in circles around where Xiao Zhan stood.

“Good morning to you too, _gǒu zǎizǎi_ ,” Xiao Zhan greeted as he rolled his eyes in false annoyance.

Yibo beamed at the nickname, the same way he had the first time Xiao Zhan had called him that, even though he’d intended it to be an insult. Yibo refused to take it as one, and Xiao Zhan felt it fit too well to stop calling him that.

“Zheng-ge took me on a run last night,” Yibo told him, finally stopping in front of Xiao Zhan, leaning back and forth on his skateboard to stay upright.

Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow at the news. “How’d it go?”

“Great, he says he’s gonna bring me on more, says I have good instincts.”

Without his permission, Xiao Zhan gave Yibo a sincere smile and said, “that’s great, I’m proud of you.”

Before he could rethink his words, Yibo stumbled off of his skateboard, catching himself just in time not to fall on his face. 

When he looked back up at Xiao Zhan, his face was red, and his stare was no longer intense and focused on eye contact, in fact, he seemed unable to meet Xiao Zhan’s eyes at all. But the tiny smile spread across his lips was pleased.

That smile, more than any of the crooked smirks, or flirty pouting from all the times before, was the thing that hit Xiao Zhan straight in the chest. 

He swallowed hard against the panic rising within him and moved to leave.

“Keep up the good work,” he said, then quickly made his way to the back office.

Thankfully, Yibo hadn’t tried to stop him.

After that, he didn’t try to show up where he knew Yibo would be if he didn’t have to. He’d given himself a stern talking to that letting the kid get to him like that was unprofessional, he needed to start drawing boundaries with the people who worked under him.

No matter how cute they were.

  


He hadn’t seen Yibo in over a month when he got a call from one of his garages that someone was there, demanding to speak to Xiao Zhan, personally.

Not that he was in the habit of following the demands of the people who bought drugs off of him, but Xiao Zhan was interested to know what the issue was. So, he made his way over to the garage, getting briefed along the way.

He was told that a group had purchased a large shipment from Xiao Zhan and when they went to sell it, the buyers claimed the drugs had been cut with something else.

Walking into the garage he looked around. He wasn’t proud of the way his eyes seemed to zero in on Yibo tucked away in a corner, before he took in the six angry men that were standing in the center of the room.

Stepping in front of the two men who seemed to be the leaders, Xiao Zhan gave them a small, polite smile.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted, trying not to smirk at the men’s glares.

“You’re Xiao Zhan?” The taller and angrier of the two asked.

“I am.”

“You sold me bad drugs.”

Xiao Zhan cocked his head to the side. “Can you prove that?” 

“I can,” the other, shorter man said, holding out a bag with what Xiao Zhan could only assume were the poorly cut drugs.

“You bought the drugs from him?” Xiao Zhan asked the shorter man.

“Yes.”

Xiao Zhan nodded, looking back and forth between the two men, before he looked around the room, catching the eyes of his own men before he turned back around.

In the length of time it took for the taller man to take another angry breath, Xiao Zhan had pulled out his gun from his inner jacket pocket, and shot him point blank through the forehead.

His gun was trained on one of the men who’d obviously been brought along as muscle before the man’s boss had even fully hit the ground. The rest of Xiao Zhan’s men had their guns pointed at the others.

The shorter man gaped at the body on the ground before quickly holding up his arms.

“W-we didn’t come here for this, we, all we wanted was our money back,” the man stammered.

Xiao Zhan motioned for Luo Shuǐxi to start divesting the other men of their weapons.

“I understand,” he said, once his attention didn’t need to solely be on the dead man’s backup. “The problem is, I can’t have people out here trying to hurt my reputation just so they can turn a profit while keeping some of the merchandise for themselves. It’s not good for business, you understand that, right?”

The man eyed Xiao Zhan warily before nodding.

“Tell me,” Xiao Zhan said, finally lowering his gun once he received the nod from Luo Shuǐxi. “Was this just a one time deal you were doing? Or do you buy from them regularly?”

“This was our first time,” the man answered. “B-but it was meant to become a regular business relationship.”

“Well, then it looks like I did you a favor, by getting rid of a middle-man who probably raised the price for half the product. I can guarantee that those drugs were fine when they left my facility. So, if you’re still in the market to buy, it appears I have a spot that just opened up.”

Xiao Zhan took the man, Liú Zhìshāng, to the back office, to iron out some of the details, personally. 

Normally, he wouldn’t be involved in setting up deals this way, but as Xiao Zhan had shot the man’s old business contact right in front of him, he figured he could take the time. It brought him back to his earlier days when it had just been him and a handful of others working out of one garage.

Once Liú Zhìshāng had been dealt with, and left slightly less shaken than he’d been when he came in, Luo Shuǐxi entered the office.

Xiao Zhan leaned back in his chair and waited for the rundown.

“Body is being taken care of,” Luo Shuǐxi informed him. “We took some parting gifts from his Muscle and let them know that they started this, so we’re currently even now and perfectly fine with keeping it that way unless someone over there has something to say about it. They assured us they wouldn’t.”

Xiao Zhan nodded in understanding.

“I told the guys they could close up shop early, so they all went to get drinks,” Luo Shuǐxi added.

“You didn’t want to go with them?” Xiao Zhan asked, raising an eyebrow at the man across from him.

“I have something more important I need to do.”

“You do?”

With that, Luo Shuǐxi pulled out his gun, and aimed it right at Xiao Zhan.

He took a sudden breath in, before saying, “this does seem more important.”

Luo Shuǐxi didn’t speak, just continued to point his gun at him.

“May I ask why?” Xiao Zhan asked, looking around the office for a moment but coming up short on an idea. He wouldn’t be faster than Luo Shuǐxi.

“What do you get from me answering that?”

Xiao Zhan shrugged. “Just wondering if it’s been a set up this whole time or if there’s a problem with company morale.”

Luo Shuǐxi sneered. “It doesn’t really matter anymore does it?”

“I guess not,” Xiao Zhan conceded.

“You’re getting too big,” Luo Shuǐxi told him, despite his earlier words. “It’s becoming a problem.”

“Is it? That’s interesting.”

“Not really.”

“Well, you’re right, it doesn’t really matter now. But I guess it’s nice to know that I’m apparently worrying someone further up the food chain. It means I was doing something right.”

“Either way,” Luo Shuǐxi said. “You’re not gonna be a problem anymore.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “Either way.”

Xiao Zhan tried not to close his eyes, but the urge to do so was strong. He must have, for at least a moment though, because one second he was staring down the barrel of Luo Shuǐxi’s gun, and the next, the gun was falling to the floor as Luo Shuǐxi reached his hands up to this throat. Choking, gurgling sounds accompanied him on his slow descent. And as Luo Shuǐxi sunk down, Xiao Zhan saw Yibo, with a long, red line of blood across his face, staring down at the man with disgust clear in his eyes.

They stood in silence for several long minutes until the sounds from the floor came to an end. With the thunk of Yibo’s knife hitting the ground, Xiao Zhan snapped back to himself and quickly made his way around the desk. He took hold of Yibo’s face.

“Y-yibo, Yibo, you,” Xiao Zhan stumbled over his words, while hands, far shakier than when he’d thought he was about to die, tried to wipe the blood off the boy’s face, only managing to smear it further into the soft skin of his cheek.

“Zhan-ge, are you ok?” Yibo asked, ignoring the way Xiao Zhan was kneading his face beneath his thumbs.

“Am _I_ ok? Fuck, Yibo, why…” Xiao Zhan shook his head, more focused on the small splotch of blood on Yibo’s forehead that he had only made worse in his attempt to scrub it away.

Yibo reached up then, taking Xiao Zhan’s hands in his, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

“What do you mean, why? Zhan-ge,” Yibo said, taking a step back. “He was going to kill you, or do the two of you always have conversations with his gun in your face?”

Xiao Zhan shook his head and Yibo’s hold on his hands so that he could grip his face once more. He began to slightly panic again when more blood started showing up on Yibo’s skin before he realized that his hands were now covered in the blood that was on Yibo’s hands.

“ _Tiánxīn,_ I’m sorry, you-”

“I’m not,” Yibo insisted. “Zhan-ge, I’d kill a hundred people to keep you safe.”

Xiao Zhan shook his head, trying to calm himself down. He knew his response was far more extreme than it's ever been before, that he’d never reacted that way to any of his other guy’s first kills. He’d been about Yibo’s age when he’d first killed someone. Even still, he couldn’t help the pang of regret he felt.

“You’re only 19, and I-”

“20.”

“What?”

“I’m 20, my birthday was a couple weeks ago,” Yibo told him.

“Oh, happy birthday,” Xiao Zhan said, realizing he might be in shock.

“Thanks,” Yibo replied, before his mouth slowly morphed in the pout he was so fond of making and his eyes widened in his signature puppy dog stare, somehow no less effective with blood on his face. “You didn’t get me a present.”

Xiao Zhan finally took a step back, leaning against the edge of the desk and combing a hand through his hair before he remembered the blood that was on it.

“What do you want?” he asked, unable to think of anything else to say in the moment.

Yibo grinned and took a step forward, back into Xiao Zhan’s space. 

“This,” he said, leaning up to press their lips together.

The kiss was short and chaste, but Yibo was slightly breathless when he moved back.

Xiao Zhan’s gaze travelled over Yibo’s face again, across one cheek still stained red with Luo Shuǐxi’s blood, to the tight way he held his eyes, down to his parted lips.

They stared at each other for a long moment before Xiao Zhan sighed.

“Yeah, yeah ok,” he finally said, grabbing the back of Yibo’s neck to pull him in again.

He swallowed down Yibo’s squeak of surprise as he sucked the lower lip between his teeth. Wasting no time, Xiao Zhan deepened the kiss, wrapping his free arm around Yibo’s waist to pull him in as close as possible. Yibo enthusiastically tried his hardest to keep up, despite the relentless pace Xiao Zhan had set. 

Once Xiao Zhan realized what he was doing, he broke the kiss, causing Yibo to gasp as his head was pulled backward.

They both stood there for a moment, staring at the other’s mouth as they caught their breath. 

Yibo tried to move forward again, but Xiao Zhan held him in place.

“Zhan-ge, I-”

Xiao Zhan shook his head. “I have to deal with this.”

“What?”

Letting Yibo go and pushing him back so that he could stand up straight, Xiao Zhan then motioned to the dead body of his old bodyguard.

“Oh, right,” Yibo said, forehead scrunching as he looked down at the body as though he’d forgotten what he’d done.

Xiao Zhan frowned at him as he dialed Zhang Yixing’s number.

It took no time at all for Yixing and Peng Chuyue to show up. Together, the three of them agreed that, for the time being, the less people who knew about what happened with Luo Shuǐxi the better. 

Clearly, he’d been working for someone else, and Xiao Zhan didn’t know if there was anyone else in his ranks who may have also been bought out, by someone who Xiao Zhan was starting to become competition for.

They agreed to keep it between just a select few until they could figure it out.

Both Chuyue and Yixing let their eyes wander over to where Yibo stood, off to the side, but neither asked any questions about what he was still doing there, or why his lips were swollen. For his part, Yibo stayed quiet and out of the way.

With Yixing and Chuyue handling the clean up, Xiao Zhan fished the car keys out of Luo Shuǐxi’s pocket, took Yibo by the arm, and led him to the car Xiao Zhan had arrived in.

Yibo didn’t speak at all as Xiao Zhan drove, just stared out the window or messed with various controls in the car. 

Xiao Zhan kept one eye on him the entire time, only letting out a breath once he’d parked the car in the garage of his apartment building.

Yibo obediently followed Xiao Zhan into the building, up to his apartment, and into his bathroom without a word from or to him.

“Take your clothes off,” Xiao Zhan instructed, as he turned the shower on.

“What?” 

“You have blood on them. Take a shower, clean yourself off, I’ll deal with the clothes.”

Yibo looked down, noticing the blood spot staining his shirt.

He nodded, then proceeded to pull his shirt over his head. Xiao Zhan reached out for it, taking the shirt from Yibo’s hands before he could hold it over his newly uncovered torso.

They stood staring at each other before Xiao Zhan said, “pants too.”

“If you wanted me naked, you could have just said so,” Yibo joked, but Xiao Zhan didn’t miss the red tint on his ears - thankfully not from Luo Shuǐxi’s blood - as he began to remove his pants too.

Xiao Zhan just rolled his eyes. “Do you normally shower with your clothes on?”

“No,” Yibo said, stepping out of his pants. “But I also don’t usually have someone with me either. Are you planning on watching me?”

“And if I am?” Xiao Zhan asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Yibo’s breath hitched, but before he could respond, Xiao Zhan took his pants from him and began walking out.

“Clean yourself up,” he said, then held up the clothes in his hand. “I’ll take care of these.”

With that, he had Yibo out of his sight for the first time in the two hours since he’d slit Luo Shuǐxi’s throat. There was an itching sensation underneath his skin, but he pushed it aside.

He undressed, shoving his and Yibo’s clothes into a bag to be sent out for cleaning, and changed into more comfortable clothes. He also picked out something for Yibo to wear, a t-shirt and sweatpants, nondescript enough for him to wear around outside without any questions being asked.

With that, he made his way to the kitchen, looking through leftovers to heat-up. Knowing when the inevitable fall happened, Yibo would need something to eat. 

When the food was ready, he realized the shower was still running. 

He made his way back to the bathroom, not bothering with knocking as he walked in.

Yibo was standing under the spray, unmoving, eyes looking at something far away from anything in Xiao Zhan’s bathroom.

“Yibo?” he tried once, and when there was no reaction, Xiao Zhan sighed and reached into the shower to turn the water off.

That startled Yibo back to his surroundings.

“Oh, I-”

“Come here,” Xiao Zhan said, guiding Yibo out of the shower. 

He grabbed a towel, quickly drying off Yibo’s hair before moving down his body. Yibo didn’t try to take the towel from him, didn’t make any kind of joke about rubbing him down, didn’t do anything but let his eyes follow Xiao Zhan’s movements down his body.

“I have clothes for you,” Xiao Zhan told him once he’d finished, then led him to his bedroom.

Yibo stood and stared at the clothes Xiao Zhan presented to him, holding the towel over his shoulders in a misguided show of modesty.

Just when Xiao Zhan worried that he’d have to help him change, Yibo looked up at him and took a step forward.

“I’m not weak,” he insisted.

“Who said you were?”

“I-I’m not freaking out, I just...I…”

Xiao Zhan put a hand on Yibo’s shoulder. “You’re processing, _bǎobǎo_ , this is normal.”

Yibo frowned. “I meant what I said earlier, I don’t regret it.”

“Okay.”

“If you needed me to, I would kill anyone you asked,” Yibo insisted.

Xiao Zhan sighed, he lacked the mental fortitude to process a declaration like that in his current state. “I believe you, what else do you want me to say?”

“I don’t want to sell drugs anymore.”

That caused Xiao Zhan to raise his eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I want to protect you, I want to be where you are so I can know that you’re safe. I want to take care of you, I _can_ take care of you.”

The fire and determination he could see in Yibo’s eyes were difficult to ignore. 

So, after a minute of staring at Yibo’s hard stare all he said was, “I’ll talk to Ayanga, see if he can train you on security.”

When Yibo didn’t respond, Xiao Zhan shook his shoulders.

“Okay?”

Yibo leaned in then, wrapping his arms around Xiao Zhan’s waist and tucking his head against Xiao Zhan’s neck. 

“Thank you, Zhan-ge,” he said simply.

“Aiyah, you’re a confusing one,” Xiao Zhan said, though he didn’t push him away, instead combed a hand through Yibo’s wet hair.

Yibo’s just hugged him tighter in response.

After they stood like that for a minute, Yibo turned his head where it rested against his shoulder and spoke.

“Zhan-ge, are we gonna have sex now?”

That startled a chuckle out of Xiao Zhan, who used his grip on Yibo’s hair to pull his head back just enough so that he could properly see his face. He leaned down to kiss Yibo twice, pulling back both times when he could feel Yibo wanting to deepen it.

He let his thumb massage over Yibo’s cheek as he answered. “Yes, _gǒu zǎizǎi,_ we’re gonna have sex.”

“Okay,” Yibo said, sighing and leaning into Xiao Zhan’s touch. “Good.”

Xiao Zhan chuckled again.

“But first, I have food for you to eat.”

Yibo’s eyes, which had originally become suspicious when Xiao Zhan first started speaking, brightened.

“Oh, yeah, food first,” he said, slipping out of Xiao Zhan’s hold to grab the sweatpants he’d provided.

Xiao Zhan smiled and led him to the kitchen.

True to his word, Xiao Zhan connected Yibo with his head of security, Ayanga, and the man made sure to teach Yibo everything he wanted to know. 

With Yibo’s single-minded focus to learn everything, it took only a few months for Ayanga to admit that Yibo may have been the deadliest member in their company. He had nearly perfect aim with multiple types of guns, his knife work was steadily improving, and while he wasn’t the strongest of the crew, he excelled at fighting styles that used his opponent’s strength against them.

“I’ve never seen anyone move like him,” Ayanga admitted to Xiao Zhan when he’d come by to watch Yibo spar. 

Xiao Zhan had only nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from where Yibo was, taking down the third guy who was twice his size.

When he brought Yibo home that night, they didn’t make it past the front door before Xiao Zhan was on his knees, sucking Yibo’s cock down until his legs gave out, and then fucked him into his mattress until the only words he knew were curses and Xiao Zhan’s name.

Yibo later complained that he was going to be too sore the next day and everyone would think it was because he couldn’t handle a few hours of sparring.

Xiao Zhan refused to apologize.

During that time, Xiao Zhan worked to uncover who, specifically, had it out for him.

After only a month, Xiao Zhan and Yixing discovered the man Luo Shuǐxi’s had been working for. It was actually Yibo’s plan and execution of that [plan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29522712) that had been the main reason Xiao Zhan had been able to bring them down. 

It had been someone much higher up than Xiao Zhan had originally expected, who had seen Xiao Zhan’s potential and had attempted to take him out, hoping to subdue him before it became too difficult to do so. 

Fortunately, for Xiao Zhan, the man had been too late, and hadn’t been able to factor in Yibo - in fairness, neither had Xiao Zhan - and when Xiao Zhan walked away from that particular confrontation as the clear winner, it launched him to the top.

That was about the time he realized that what he was doing with Yibo had far surpassed what he’d originally intended.

  
  


“You can’t sleep with anyone else anymore, you know.”

Yibo was sprawled out across the bed, starfished and sideways in a way that implied a much more rigorous round of sex than had actually taken place.

Xiao Zhan scoffed at Yibo’s bold claim.

“Says who?”

“Me?” Yibo offered, raising his head to look up at where Xiao Zhan was leaning against the headboard, in a much more dignified position than Yibo’s.

Xiao Zhan just shook his head.

Yibo groaned and let his head fall back, slightly dangling off the side.

“I get jealous,” Yibo admitted, poking Xiao Zhan’s ribs with his big toe.

Xiao Zhan grabbed Yibo’s foot, stopping him from his poking, but didn’t let go.

“And that's my problem to fix?” he asked, digging his thumb into the arch of the foot.

Yibo let off a soft whimper, whether from the pressure on his foot or Xiao Zhan’s dismissal, he didn’t elaborate.

Xiao Zhan eased his thumb up off the foot and sighed. “Do you know what it’d look like if I just suddenly became celibate for no reason?”

Suddenly, Yibo popped up, through the power of his core muscles alone, and draped himself across Xiao Zhan’s front.

Before he could reach up and put his arms around Yibo in kind, Yibo said, “then let’s get married.”

Xiao Zhan nearly choked, and the hands that had previously been moving to hold Yibo closer instead began to push him off. 

“Wang Yibo, are you human?” he asked with a slightly panicked laugh as he continued to try to push away the struggling body on top of him.

“I’m serious, Zhan-ge,” Yibo said, muffling his voice into the skin of Xiao Zhan’s neck. “If we got married I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone touching you again, whether to hurt you or to fuck you.”

“What are you even talking about?” Xiao Zhan asked, finally able to push Yibo away enough to look at his face.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, I was gonna bring it up soon,” Yibo said, bringing a hand up to run across the top of Xiao Zhan’s shoulder.

“You’ve been thinking about us getting married?” 

Yibo snorted. “No, being your personal bodyguard. Being married is just the perfect cover, and it gets me what I want.”

Xiao Zhan sighed and grabbed Yibo’s wrists, holding them away from him. 

“Explain.”

“I want to be your bodyguard. Not just another person on the team. Just you, I want to protect you.”

“Yibo -”

“I’m explaining,” Yibo interrupted with a huff.

Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow and squeezed the wrists in his hands hard enough for Yibo to attempt to pull out of his grip. After a moment of unsuccessfully extracting himself from Xiao Zhan’s tight hold, Yibo slumped down.

“Why is that wrong?” he asked, voice much softer than normal.

“It’s not wrong, _bèn dàn_ , it’s just...a lot.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a lot.”

Xiao Zhan chuckled, and released his hold. “You certainly are.”

Yibo grinned, placing his newly freed hands on Xiao Zhan’s arms.

“So, you want to be my personal bodyguard,” Xiao Zhan said, in an attempt to get the conversation to a place where it made sense.

“Yes.”

“And then we get married? Because?”

“Think about it. If I’m your bodyguard, everyone would know that I’m protecting you. Anyone trying to take you down would make their plans about getting around me. But right now, nobody knows me, nobody knows what I’m capable of. If we got married, and I was ‘just your husband’, nobody would know that I was protecting you. They’d think I was just some hot piece of ass you picked up who has never even seen a gun, let alone killed a guy for you.”

That startled a laugh out of Xiao Zhan.

“They’d think I was your weak spot, not your shield,” Yibo finished, squeezing the shoulders beneath his hands.

Xiao Zhan swallowed down his immediate reaction, which was to say that Yibo’s plan actually made a fair amount of sense.

Instead, he said, “and you think people will believe you’re not involved at all?”

“Sure,” Yibo said with a shrug. “I can play like I’m just dumb and pretty.”

“You are dumb and pretty.”

Yibo grinned. “See, I even have you fooled.”

Xiao Zhan wrestled his brain for coherent arguments, but Yibo’s idea started to sound better and better the longer he thought it through.

With one last attempt to get one of them thinking straight, Xiao Zhan said, “you’re not even 21 yet.”

Yibo shrugged, and let his hands wander down Xiao Zhan’s arms, guiding his hands to rest on Yibo’s hips. 

“So, we wait until I’m 21, it gives us time to plan, anyway.”

“The wedding?”

“Logistics, who we bring on board, and who we keep out, also our personas in public,” Yibo said with a laugh. “But sure, the wedding too.”

Xiao Zhan let his thumbs circle Yibo’s hips as he thought the crazy plan through. He was sure there were reasons not to do it, but with Yibo sitting on top of him, and the idea of having him as an ace up their sleeve when things turned sour, Xiao Zhan couldn’t think of any of those reasons. Especially because he liked the idea that Yibo wouldn’t always be in the thick of it, using him as a surprise meant he would only be dispatched when it was necessary, or Xiao Zhan’s life was in immediate danger. Yibo would throw a fit if he knew Xiao Zhan worried for him that way, and that his idea also granted Xiao Zhan some peace in knowing that he’d be safer than ever stuck to Xiao Zhan’s side. 

He decided to keep that benefit to himself.

Noticing that Yibo was starting to get hard again, Xiao Zhan moved his hand to help him along, smirking at the quick hitch in his breath at the sudden contact.

“If-if you’re worried about feelings,” Yibo said, voice breathier than before. “I’m sure you’ll be at least a little bit in love with me by the end of the year.”

Xiao Zhan couldn’t hold back his laugh at that.

“You know, you may be the most ridiculous person I’ve ever met,” he told Yibo, his hand never changing it’s pace.

Yibo closed his eyes and nodded, bringing both his hands up to rest on either side of Xiao Zhan’s neck.

“Yeah,” he sighed more than said.

Unable to hold back any longer, Xiao Zhan quickly flipped their positions, grinning at Yibo’s yelp.

Xiao Zhan had a feeling the end of the year was not soon enough.

Two weeks after Yibo’s 21st birthday, they had their wedding.

More opulent than either of them would have chosen if it hadn’t mainly been for the benefit of others. But it did the job of presenting Yibo to the world as Xiao Zhan’s trophy husband. Yibo came across as young, beautiful, and completely naive to why Xiao Zhan had been able to afford such an expensive wedding for him.

They even set up a small business deal at the wedding, just so Xiao Zhan could make a big show about making sure Yibo had no idea it was happening. Yibo did a good job at pretending not to understand some of the very blatant things that happened right in front of him. 

Let it never be said that people who trafficked in stolen goods were particularly subtle people.

  


It took Xiao Zhan a while to get used to the change his husband went through depending on their surroundings. Yibo could jump in and out of his personas so easily that Xiao Zhan sometimes found himself unable to keep up with which husband he would be dealing with.

After a particularly bratty episode from Yibo, that had taken place in front of a group Xiao Zhan was in the process of making a deal with, Xiao Zhan had braced himself for another fit once the group had left. Instead, Yibo just sat down and got to work on debriefing, discussing his observations and preliminary ideas on how to deal with possible issues they might run into. There were no indications that an hour earlier he’d thrown himself into Xiao Zhan’s lap and nearly begged him for a new pair of shoes in front of a group of strangers.

Xiao Zhan felt dizzy once they got home that night and Yibo’s serious, all business persona immediately bled out as he stripped off his designer jacket and necklaces to change into sweatpants and one of Xiao Zhan’s shirts. He told Xiao Zhan off for leaving his dirty socks on the floor again, before flicking his ear, kissing his cheek, and all but dancing his way back to their living room.

“What’s wrong?” Yibo asked, later that night, coming up behind where Xiao Zhan was making them dinner, and wrapping his arms around his waist.

“Nothing,” Xiao Zhan said, as Yibo kissed his neck, then his shoulder.

“Uh huh,” Yibo murmured, clearly unconvinced.

Xiao Zhan sighed and turned in his hold in order to take Yibo’s face in his hands. 

“There’s really nothing wrong,” he promised. “I’m just tired from having three husbands to keep up with.”

Yibo frowned for a moment before understanding brightened his eyes. 

“Your trophy husband is only trying to make sure his very scary husband’s competition doesn't start getting any stupid ideas,” Yibo demurred, bringing one hand up to rest against his neck.

Xiao Zhan tilted his head in confusion.

“Don’t act like you don’t know how intense you get when you’re in boss mode,” Yibo said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It makes you seem bulletproof, and most people don’t want to mess with that. But there are always gonna be ambitious people who want to see if they can, and if I can distract them enough into thinking the best way to do that is through me, then I’m going to.”

He kissed Yibo once before nodding.

“I know, I just need more practice on how to deal with you when you get like that,” he admitted.

Yibo raised an eyebrow. “You’re better at it than you think. Don’t be afraid to be a little mean, to handle me a little rough, let them know that you still call the shots no matter how spoiled I act. Show them you’re the boss at home too.”

Xiao Zhan hid his face in Yibo’s neck, half turned-on and half amused at the prospect that he could boss Yibo around in any instance where Yibo wasn’t expressly wanting him to. Early on, Xiao Zhan thought he’d had the upper hand, but looking back, it became painfully clear how little control he actually had where Yibo was concerned.

“But, you also have to make it seem like you like me, even though I’m a spoiled brat. It won’t be worth it if they don’t think you’d care that much if they hurt me.”

“I do like you,” Xiao Zhan said, turning to kiss Yibo’s throat. 

Yibo chuckled and ran his hand through the hair on the back of Xiao Zhan’s neck. “I know you do, _gege._ I like you too.”

He was grinning when Xiao Zhan straightened up in order to kiss him properly. It was when Xiao Zhan attempted to deepen the kiss, hands reaching up under Yibo’s shirt to grab his waist, that Yibo started to whine.

“Zhan-ge, dinner,” Yibo protested, when Xiao Zhan finally pulled back.

Xiao Zhan scoffed. “It’ll be here when we’re done.”

Yibo only began to whine louder, turning his face away when Xiao Zhan went to kiss him again, making him kiss Yibo’s soft cheek instead.

With that, Xiao Zhan sighed and released his grip on Yibo’s sides. 

“Fine,” he relented, turning back to the food he’d been preparing. “But you should know that my other husband would never deny me this way.”

Yibo let out his wheezing laugh long enough for Xiao Zhan’s scowl to turn into a fond grin.

“How about I dance for you while you cook for me,” Yibo offered.

“What?”

“Haven’t you heard? That’s the newest rumor going around. People are saying I was a stripper at a club you went to, I caught your eye and you became my sugar daddy, ya know, so I’d only dance for you,” Yibo said with a sly grin.

Xiao Zhan could see it. Yibo, when comfortable and alone with Xiao Zhan, was almost instinctively sensual, the natural movement of his body was often more seductive than any specific technique he might try. 

If Yibo had been a dancer, Xiao Zhan was sure things would have played out exactly as people were speculating. Xiao Zhan would never admit the small relief over that never being something he needed to worry about.

“So, do you want me to dance for you?” Yibo asked, when Xiao Zhan got lost in his imagination for too long.

Xiao Zhan glared and reached out to grab him around the waist. “Either let me fuck you or let me cook in peace, you menace.”

Yibo screeched as he spun out of Xiao Zhan’s reach. 

“No,” he yelled, as he scurried out of the kitchen. “I’ll go, just make my food, Zhan-ge!”

Xiao Zhan went back to work but grumbled not too quietly about how his bratty, trophy husband might not actually be all that different to his real one.

\--------------

Sitting in the back seat of one of his many cars, Xiao Zhan waits, the very picture of calm. Only a few meters away is the building that holds his men and the men of a low-level, insignificant crime boss. It also holds his husband.

If anyone were to look inside the car and see Xiao Zhan now, they’d think he was merely lost in thought.

No one would see the fury that is brewing within him. No one could guess the plans he is making for the unlucky few who survive.

\------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter:
> 
> Xiao Zhan shoots someone in the head  
> Yibo kills someone by cutting their throat with a knife  
> Yibo gets a significant amount of blood on him  
> A character implies that Yibo is an underage prostitute (Yibo is 19 at the youngest in this story)  
> Multiple scenes talking about buying and/or selling drugs
> 
> If I missed anything that should be listed as a warning, please let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please see notes at the end for specific content warnings.
> 
> But also, in general, please heed the tags!

Two fingers on Yibo’s left hand are broken. He probably has an orbital fracture around his right eye, and by the sharp ache in his side he might have a few fractured ribs as well. 

He’s pretty sure he sprained his left ankle too, but that one had been his own fault. 

From the grim look on Ayanga’s face, he can only assume he looks as beat up as he feels. 

Yibo would like to be able to say that he’d taken out most of the people who’d kidnapped him, the ones who had broken his fingers, eye, and ribs. But by the time Ayanga and the others had shown up, he’d only made it through a few. 

They hadn’t even searched him for a weapon, which just showed how severely unprepared they were for dealing with him. The knife in his boot was sharp enough to cut through the ropes they’d tied him up in and to bring one of Huyang’s men to the floor when he’d stabbed him through the back of the knee. He’d used the chair he’d been tied to on the next guy, and the gun he’d taken from that one on the two who approached him after that. Yibo had only had time to shoot Zhao Huyang in the kneecap, retrieve his knife from the first man’s leg, and run Zhao Huyang through the jugular with the already bloodied knife, when Ayanga and the others had burst through the door.

“Let’s get you back to _Lǎobǎn,_ huh?” Ayanga says after Yibo has given him the basic rundown of everything that happened between him and Lele getting ambushed to now.

Yibo sighs, as much as his aching ribs will let him, and nods, hoping they’ll actually have the doctor look at him and clean him up a little before Xiao Zhan sees him. Ever since that first kill, Yibo covered in blood, even when it’s not his own, has a tendency to set his husband on edge.

Ayanga helps him as he limps his way to the car. Only, once the door opens for Yibo he stops, glaring as much as he can with one throbbing eye, at his husband who has no business being here.

“Get in the car, _ài ren_ ,” Xiao Zhan says when Yibo glares at him for too long.

Yibo huffs but complies, easing into the car as well as he can to not hurt his already aching side.

“Don’t be mad at him, “ Xiao Zhan says when Ayanga slips into the passenger seat and Yibo turns his glare to him. “It was all he could do to make me stay in the car.”

“What use is trying to protect you if you’re just going to show up at the one place you shouldn’t be anyway?” Yibo snaps.

Xiao Zhan makes a soft humming noise as he pulls out a pack of wet wipes.

“When your husband gets kidnapped, we’ll see how far away from it you stay,” he says simply, as he begins wiping at Yibo’s face.

Yibo nearly growls at the thought. “They can fucking try.”

Xiao Zhan just hums again as he continues to clean off Yibo’s face. When he gets to his eye, Yibo braces himself for the pain, but Xiao Zhan keeps his touch light, wincing more than Yibo as he cleans the tender area. 

“The doctor will meet you at your place,” Ayanga tells them as he hangs up his phone.

“Thank you,” Xiao Zhan says, not looking away from Yibo.

Once Xiao Zhan deems Yibo’s face is clean enough, they sit in silence the rest of the way home. Ayanga had already asked all his questions, and Yibo has to assume that any questions Xiao Zhan has will come much later.

Xiao Zhan helps Yibo hobble his way up to their apartment, where the doctor is waiting for them when they arrive.

It’s mostly Xiao Zhan who undresses Yibo so the doctor can get a proper look at his ribs and Yibo ignores the blank look on his husband’s face when the dark bruising is revealed.

Thankfully, the doctor concludes that none of his ribs are broken. He sets Yibo’s fingers and ankle, and presses around Yibo’s eye until involuntary tears fall from them. 

“If you have vision problems in the next few days, you’ll need to come in for a scan,” the doctor tells him, then directs his next question to Xiao Zhan. “Do you have cold packs?”

Xiao Zhan nods.

“You can ice his eye and ribs, ten to twenty minutes at a time, and make sure to keep an eye on the swelling.”

He writes a prescription, handing it off to Xiao Zhan, then pulls a bottle of pills out of his pocket. 

“Until you can get that filled, he can take these for the pain.”

Xiao Zhan nods and takes the pills, then, without a word, walks out of the room. 

The doctor looks after Xiao Zhan for a moment before turning back to Yibo.

“Uh, rest, ice, and time to heal is what you’ll need for the next few weeks,” he says, smiling kindly at him.

Yibo nods in understanding.

After another moment, Xiao Zhan walks back into the room, holding two cold compresses, a glass of water, and two of the pills from the bottle.

“Take these,” he says brusquely, handing off the water and pills to Yibo.

Yibo obeys. He’s barely swallowed before Xiao Zhan takes the glass out of his hand and moves to set it on the bedside table. He tosses both ice packs onto the edge of the bed.

“Is there anything else?” Xiao Zhan asks, turning to the doctor.

The doctor eyes Yibo for a moment before shaking his head. 

“No, you have my number,” he says, almost pointedly to Yibo. “If anything arises feel free to call me. But what he needs now is rest.”

Xiao Zhan leads the doctor out without a backward glance and Yibo sighs as he slowly eases his way into bed and under the covers.

Yibo grabs at the larger ice pack, the only one he can currently reach from where he’s sitting without hurting himself, and presses it against his side.

He lets his head lean back against the headboard, taking in a short breath, which is as much as he can currently stand at the moment, and finally lets the tension slowly release from his body.

He’s not sure how long Xiao Zhan is gone for, but it’s long enough that his vision starts to swim and the ache in his face doesn’t feel quite so overpowering.

It’s just when he’s deciding that he really can reach all the way down the bed for the other ice pack that Xiao Zhan finally comes back.

His face is still in that blank mask of his and Yibo nearly whimpers when he sees it, because that face shouldn’t be here, in their bedroom, when they’re alone.

Apparently, he does actually whimper, because suddenly Xiao Zhan’s face falls and he rushes to Yibo’s side.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” Xiao Zhan says, sliding next to him onto the bed.

“Zhan-ge,” is all Yibo can think to say as he presses in close, bringing his right hand up to clutch at Xiao Zhan’s collar to keep him there.

“I know, I know, _tiánxīn,_ I’m right here.”

Xiao Zhan settles one hand on Yibo’s shoulder and squeezes until it’s almost painful. With the other hand he angle’s Yibo’s chin up so that he can see his face.

Yibo is sure that the picture he makes right now is less than attractive, but Xiao Zhan studies him as though he hasn’t seen him in days, instead of just a few hours.

“Zhan-ge,” Yibo says again, trying to push away from the hold on his face so that he can rest it against his husband’s throat.

“What do you need, _bǎobǎo_?” Xiao Zhan asks, combing his fingers through Yibo’s hair, his touch so light Yibo almost doesn’t feel it.

“Mm, cold,” he murmurs, as much as his heavy tongue and muddled brain will allow.

Xiao Zhan makes a questioning sound, but it only takes a few seconds for him to catch on, which is good, as Yibo doesn’t currently have the motor functions needed for pointing.

As gently as he can, with half of Yibo’s body laying on top of him, Xiao Zhan reaches down to the end of the bed where the other cold pack is.

He settles them both back down, more horizontally now, and carefully places the cold pack against Yibo’s eye.

Everything is dulled and muted, but Yibo is sure the cool pressure would feel like a relief if he could feel it properly.

He blinks up at Xiao Zhan with his one good eye, valiantly opening it when it tries to stay closed for too long.

Xiao Zhan leans down to kiss his forehead, his smile is small but soft when he pulls back to look at him.

 _“_ Sleep now, _gǒu zǎizǎi,_ I’ll be here when you wake up,” he promises.

Yibo thinks he means to say something, but before he can, the heavy blanket of sleep surrounds him.

\---------------

Xiao Zhan can tell the moment Yibo’s painkillers have taken him from drowsy to unconscious. The weak hold he’d had on Xiao Zhan’s collar is released, and the wheezing intake of breaths have eased to a less troubling sigh.

Even still, it takes him another few minutes of just watching as his husband sleeps, studying every inch of his face as though he doesn’t already have it memorized, as though he couldn’t draw it in his sleep.

Eventually though, he grabs the cold pack Yibo had wrapped around his middle, and the one he’d been holding to Yibo’s face and takes them back into the kitchen.

As he stands in the quiet kitchen he can feel the fury he’d needed to tamp down earlier seeping it’s way back through his veins.

Xiao Zhan reaches into his pocket where the three wet wipes it’d taken to clean the blood off Yibo’s face still reside and crushes them in his hand. 

When his phone rings, he answers with a shaky hand, the other still clutching the bloody tissues.

“Are we ready?” he asks Yixing as his greeting.

“We’re ready.”

\---------------

Huang Zhunan has never seen Xiao Zhan before. 

He’s heard all about how handsome the man is, some have said he’s the most handsome man they’ve ever seen, others have claimed he’s the most handsome man in China.

What everyone failed to tell him was how menacing Xiao Zhan looks when he wants to kill everyone in the room.

Zhunan has a feeling not many have lived to share that particular observation.

The chaos of the day has kept Zhunan at a heightened state of alertness. Only when he’d been brought to some unrecognizable building and forced to kneel alongside the rest who’d been kept alive after the warehouse raid did Zhunan feel the adrenaline begin to wane, despite the knowledge that he most likely wasn’t going to be walking out of this building.

When Xiao Zhan enters, with his dark eyes marking each and every man on the ground with a look that clearly said that it would be just the same if they were all dead bodies he was looking down on, Zhunan feels that adrenaline come rushing back through his body, making him sit up as Xiao Zhan passes by.

Zhunan can’t hear what’s being discussed, but after a minute, one of Xiao Zhan’s lieutenants begins directing the others to start moving them. 

He doesn’t know what they’re separating them for, but allows himself to be dragged off to the left side of the room. He’s not sure of the significance of the two groups they’ve been separated into, only that Wú Qúnzuǒ, who had been helping him load guns in the back, is on the left side with him, and Liú Lìngcuò, who is one of the four kneeling over on the right side, had been in the main area when the fire fight had broken out. 

Gao Quisheng isn’t on either side. Zhunan has no doubt in his mind that his mentor never made it out of the warehouse.

Zhunan is too tired to try to understand the significance of the sides at this point. He’s still sure they’re all leaving in body bags, so in his book, regardless of what side they’re currently on, they’re the same. 

Apparently, Xiao Zhan has no need for speeches, he doesn’t explain to anyone what they’re doing here. Everyone already knows. 

Everyone is told early on about the rules, and today, they’d broken a very important one. Zhao-zong had clearly thought he was above it. Zhunan can only imagine what is in store for his boss if he’s still alive.

With no words exchanged that Zhunan is aware of, one of Xiao Zhan’s men holds Liú Lìngcuò down, forcing his left leg out in front of him, as Xiao Zhan moves toward them. Liú Lìngcuò struggles against the hold as Xiao Zhan takes a large knife from another of his men and swiftly stabs the knife down into Liú Lìngcuò’s foot. 

Liú Lìngcuò’s scream fills the room, which is just as well as everyone else has gone completely silent. 

Without a word, Xiao Zhan moves to the man beside Liú Lìngcuò, taking a new knife and stabbing it through his side. His screams start just as Liú Lìngcuò’s have begun to taper off.

Zhunan can feel himself begin to hyperventilate as he watches the next man struggle against the hold that one of Xiao Zhan’s men have on his arm. Thankfully, as Xiao Zhan approaches him, the angle at which he stands obscures Zhunan’s view of what he’s doing. 

Unfortunately, he can still hear the crying as well as see the first finger as it falls to the floor at Xiao Zhan’s feet.

The kid that’s kneeling two away from Zhunan vomits.

Zhunan only has to see Xiao Zhan approach the last man on the other side, see how his head is being held tight between the arms of another one of Xiao Zhan’s men, to know he can’t watch whatever is about to happen. He squeezes his eyes closed and turns his head away, wishing he had access to his hands to try and cover his ears, not that he thinks it’d drown out the noise completely.

Once he’s done, Xiao Zhan takes out a gun and shoots each man who is writhing and crying on the floor through the head.

When Xiao Zhan finally turns to look at the remaining group, Zhunan can see he’s breathing heavy, and a sheen of sweat is covering his forehead and neck. 

“Now,” he starts, voice slightly breathless, but still severe. “I need to know where you all were when my men showed up today. I need to know how involved you were.”

The guy next to Zhunan huffs. “You mean where were we when that little husband of yours threw-”

Zhunan throws himself to the floor as the shot fires from Xiao Zhan’s gun.

His ears are ringing and he’s fallen onto his side, without the use of his hands and legs he can’t pull himself up. The body of the man next to him has fallen like a heavy weight against his feet. He doesn’t have to worry about that for long, as someone comes up behind him, dragging the body off his legs and pulling him up by his hair.

When Zhunan’s head is lifted, Xiao Zhan is there, crouched down to hold the hot barrel of his gun right below Zhunan’s chin. 

“And how about you?” he asks.

“I-” Zhunan starts, choking on the saliva in his mouth. “I was...i-in the back.”

Xiao Zhan sends him a skeptical look, eyebrow raised and lips pursed.

“I was trying to load more guns,” Zhunan insists. “We weren’t prepared. Half of us didn’t even _know_ -”

He’s cut off when Xiao Zhan presses the warm metal to his skin. Zhunan hisses at the contact and tries to move away, but the grip on his hair just holds him tighter.

“I can see that you’re upset,” Xiao Zhan says then, moving his gun so it’s no longer pressed to Zhunan’s skin. “We probably killed a few of your friends, yeah?”

Zhunan frowns. “I’m new, I don’t even know most of these guys’ names.”

“Still,” Xiao Zhan continues. “You probably had a friend or two, or maybe a mentor, who didn’t survive.”

With that, Zhunan’s eyes darken. 

Quisheng hadn’t been the one to take Wang Yibo. He hadn’t been happy with their boss’s decision at all. If it had been up to him, none of this would have happened today.

Zhunan doesn’t understand what is so special about Wang Yibo. Doesn’t understand why so many people have died over him.

Sheng-ge had explained that it was a matter of respect for Xiao Zhan, but from the stories he’s been told and from where he’s sitting now, surrounded by dead men he might have one day considered his brothers, Zhunan knows there’s more to it than that. 

“Think about what you’d like to do to me for whoever’s death it is you’re mad about,” Xiao Zhan says after a moment when Zhunan doesn’t respond. “Now, multiply that feeling by a thousand. Your boss, and these men you barely knew, took something that belongs to me, and tried to destroy it. So, I’ve been left with only two options, you either die now, or I leave you with something to remind you to never take what’s mine again. I’ll even give you the final say because I believe you when you say you weren’t directly involved.”

“I want nothing to do with you or your husband, Xiao xiānshēng,” Zhunan swears, and means it. 

He doesn’t know everything, but Zhunan knows enough that he wants no part of it, if he asked Quisheng, he knows he’d tell Zhunan that revenge for him wasn’t worth it.

Xiao Zhan studies his face for another moment before he looks behind Zhunan and nods.

It takes a second for Zhunan to feel the burning against his skin, but once he does, all he can do is scream.

\-------

Yibo feels like he’s been hit by a truck, which isn’t that far from accurate. 

But the warmth of the late morning sunlight beaming down on him through the window, and the familiar thumb rubbing circles against his cheek, are almost enough for him to wake up with a smile on his face.

Almost.

He forces out his most pitiful whine, having chosen instead to focus on the pain on the other side of his face from the sweet touch.

Xiao Zhan hums out a worried coo and Yibo slowly blinks his eyes open, wincing at the throbbing it causes in his right eye when he does so.

Frowning, Xiao Zhan leans down to press a barely there kiss to the top of Yibo’s right cheekbone then to his eyebrow. 

It probably won’t do as much as ice or more painkillers, but Yibo appreciates the gesture all the same.

“Good morning, _bǎobǎo,_ ” Xiao Zhan says when he pulls back.

“Morning,” Yibo says, then groans when his attempt to stretch only aggravates his side. 

He curls a little more in on himself and says, “hurts.”

“Where does it hurt?” Xiao Zhan asks, frown deepening as he brushes hair off of Yibo’s forehead.

“Everywhere,” Yibo whines, pouting up at his indulgent husband.

“Well, I’ve only brought two of these with me,” Xiao Zhan says, holding up their cold compresses. “So you’ll have to just choose two spots and hope the rest will be able to deal with it.”

Yibo attempts to glare, having hoped to milk the sympathy card a little longer, but apparently his husband doesn’t care about every single, aching muscle in his body.

He takes the smaller ice pack from Xiao Zhan and presses it against his eye, hissing at the cold against his face and shivering as it bleeds down under his skin. Xiao Zhan helps him sit up further so he can wrap the larger ice pack against his bruised ribs. 

“Once you’ve eaten you can take your medication,” Xiao Zhan says, tying the ice pack in place.

“That stuff was strong, I want to be awake for a little bit today,” Yibo argues, not sure he can stand another round of whatever it is the doctor gave him so soon after waking up.

“The prescription the doctor wrote shouldn’t make you as tired.”

“You already picked it up?”

Xiao Zhan nods, pulling the hair that is stuck beneath the ice pack over Yibo’s eye out from under it.

“Oh, okay. Well, then can I have breakfast in bed?” Yibo asks, fully prepared to bring out his most effective pleading face, even with only one eye he knows it’s power is often enough to sway his husband.

Only, there is no need, as Xiao Zhan moves to the side, revealing a tray with a large breakfast sitting on top.

“Zhan-ge,” Yibo nearly gasps, he can count on one hand, in their four years of marriage, that Xiao Zhan has made him breakfast in bed. He must really feel bad about what happened yesterday.

Yibo moves the ice pack away from his eye in order to leave a small kiss against Xiao Zhan’s lips in thanks before he starts reaching out toward the tray.

Xiao Zhan chuckles but obliges, placing the tray over Yibo’s lap and settling in beside him.

Yibo eyes the food greedily, unsure of where to start first. The spring onion oil noodles are calling his name, but in the end, Yibo reaches for a steamed bun first.

Only, as soon as he goes to take a bite he winces in pain caused by that movement.

“Smaller bites, _bǎobǎo_ ,” Xiao Zhan says, placing his hand on Yibo’s wrist.

Yibo frowns but relents to the fact that it’ll be awhile before he can open his mouth as wide as he’s used to.

“My blowjobs aren’t going to be very good until this thing heals,” he says, pointing to his eye and sighing in frustration at that realization.

Xiao Zhan kisses the side of his head.

“We’ll figure something out. The doctor said we shouldn’t have any kind of sex for the next month anyway.”

“What?” Yibo nearly exclaims, pulling out of Xiao Zhan’s hold enough to look up at him. “I didn’t hear him say that.”

“It was when I was walking him out.”

Yibo eyes him suspiciously for a moment. “And the doctor decided to wait until I wasn’t around to tell you that?”

Xiao Zhan frowns, “I may have asked.”

That makes Yibo snort, and then hiss in pain. Xiao Zhan hums sympathetically in response.

“A month is too long,” Yibo argues. “He just doesn’t think you’re very nice to me and thinks he’s doing me a favor by telling you to keep your hands off me.”

Xiao Zhan considers that for a moment before nodding.

“Still, we’ll see how you’re feeling in two weeks and go from there,” Xiao Zhan relents.

Yibo nearly rolls his eyes, but doesn’t argue further, Xiao Zhan will definitely break before he has to even think of begging.

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while after that. Yibo leans against Xiao Zhan’s side and occasionally feeds him bites of his pork buns. He doesn’t share any of his noodles though. 

He’s almost done when Xiao Zhan begins unwrapping the ice around his side and speaks for the first time in several minutes.

“It’s finished.”

Yibo pauses his movements for just a moment before continuing to bring the last of the noodles to his mouth. He chews slowly.

“You didn’t leave any for me?” He asks once he’s done, looking up at his husband.

“You got plenty, _bǎobǎo_.”

Yibo scoffs. 

“You got Zhao Huyang,” Xiao Zhan points out.

“He deserved worse than what I was able to do,” Yibo says, feeling another wave of annoyance run through him at the arrogance of that man.

“Probably,” Xiao Zhan agrees. “Don’t let it bother you too long, _xīngān_ , you did well.”

“We’ll have to figure out what the story is,” Yibo says, mostly rhetorically. He’s sure Na Ying has already been working on something.

Xiao Zhan moves the tray off of Yibo’s lap, letting him slide further down the bed.

“Right now, the word is that you were unconscious the whole time and that you’ve been told that you were kidnapped and were being held for ransom.You think whoever took you just wanted my money.”

“Did _lǎo tóu zi_ pay my ransom?” Yibo asks, pursing his lips and looking up at his husband with what he knows is his most innocent expression.

“Brat,” Xiao Zhan huffs, pinching the skin of Yibo’s thigh hard enough to make him yelp.

“Zhan-ge,” Yibo whines. “I’m already so wounded and you mistreat me like this? That doctor is right about you.”

Xiao Zhan growls and takes Yibo by the hips, yanking him further down the bed. 

Yibo can’t help the involuntary, sharp cry he makes when his side protests that movement. Xiao Zhan’s face immediately shifts to concern.

“Oh, _tiánxīn,_ I’m sorry,” he says, attempting to move away, but Yibo wraps his arms around his neck, locking him in place.

“Kiss it better and maybe I’ll forgive you.”

Xiao Zhan’s face softens. He leans in, brushing his lips across the swell of Yibo’s right cheek. He kisses the tip of Yibo’s nose before leaving a much harder kiss against the left cheek.

Yibo smiles as much as his eye will allow, then sighs and melts into Xiao Zhan’s embrace as he moves down to kiss his jaw and neck and collarbone. Xiao Zhan kisses right above Yibo’s heart next, and Yibo lets his hand move up to card his fingers through the hair on the back of Xiao Zhan’s head.

He moves his lips down the line of Yibo’s sternum then over to his side, leaving small kisses all around the bruising, then one final, sweet kiss to the darkest bruise.

“Am I forgiven?” he asks, looking up, his dark eyes creating a warm glow beneath Yibo’s skin.

“If you go further down, definitely,” Yibo says, voice coming out more breathless than he’d expected.

Xiao Zhan’s smile is wide and sweet, but he moves in the opposite direction from what Yibo requested.

“Two weeks, _bǎobǎo_ ,” Xiao Zhan reminds him, patting his hip before rolling over and stepping off the bed. 

“Zhan-ge,” Yibo protests, reaching out for his husband, only to be rudely ignored for the breakfast tray.

Xiao Zhan leans over and kisses the top of his head. “I’ll go get your meds, be right back.”

“Zhan-ge,” Yibo yells out again, the whine clear in his voice now.

But he’s left neglected as his husband walks out of the room without any concern for Yibo’s well-being. Yibo huffs and tosses himself back down to lay on Xiao Zhan’s side of the bed. 

He digs his face into his husband’s pillow, letting the familiar scent of Xiao Zhan relax him as he settles down into it. He grins as he pictures Xiao Zhan in the kitchen reminding himself of his ‘two weeks’ promise. 

Yibo gives it two days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Content Warning for this chapter:
> 
> Yibo stabs two people, he also shoots two people  
> Through the whole chapter Yibo has an eye injury and broken bones  
> Xiao Zhan tortures several people  
> Xiao Zhan shoots several people  
> Blood mention throughout the chapter.
> 
> Please let me know if there are things I have missed that you think should be addressed in the warnings!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> If something happened in this fic that you don't think was properly tagged, please let me know so that I can fix it!


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